


To Tell a Lie/To Believe a Lie

by battoff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Keith and Pidge bond over their mutual fuck-upedness, Trans Female Character, Trans Pidge | Katie Holt, also past klance mentioned but actually not happening during this, based on that one moana scene because why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 16:58:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/battoff/pseuds/battoff
Summary: Hunk:What happened to you?Keith:I had to choose between living in a world without my best friend and watching the world crumble with my best friend.Hunk:That's, uh, that's rough buddy.





	To Tell a Lie/To Believe a Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Take a shot for every time I write because, or use the —, or italicize something, or all of the above.

The door that connected the empty void of space to the inside of the spaceship opened and then closed in quick succession. Keith knew it had to be Pidge. He suspected Rover didn't make it through the crash. Hell, up until the door opened, Keith thought Pidge was dead, too. But he couldn't find it in himself to leave the ship, leave _her_. He was—He felt _bad_. His mind was shouting at him to do _something_ , _anything_ , because Pidge was probably in shock. He needed to help her because she was only a human, because she was his _friend_ , but his heart was beating too fast. It hurt to even humor the idea of moving while his heart felt like it was going to fly out of his chest.

“Are you okay,” Pidge asked, finally speaking up. A pained noise tried to crawl its way up his throat but he pushed it down. “Keith?”

He turned to face her but kept his head down. He couldn't even look her in the eye. His sword sat in his hands with its normally pristine finish glowing purple where it was cracked. “I told you to turn back.”

A shift, metal scraping against metal. “I thought we could make it.”

Keith's eyes snapped up to stare at her. _If she thinks she can try to lie to me about doing things for the sake of proving yourself, then I—_

“ _We_?”

Pidge’s face scrunched up as if she was in pain before relaxing into disappointment. “I thought _I_ could make it.” She reached forward, hand outstretched like she was going to touch him. “W-We could fix it—”

“It was made by the Galra,” he jerked back, panic rising in him. Panic was such a messy emotion. To panic meant he was giving up the facade he had clung to for so long, the only thing that reassured him that he was a part of something. So he resorted to what he knew; anger, resentment, hate. “You can't _fix_ it.”

“Then next time we'll be more careful.” She turned around to start fixing a panel that had come loose. “Voltron was stuck on the Altean moons. It's a robot! It can't leave the orbit. We can find a way around.”

 _“You could try, try, try but you can't expect a faux human to beat an Altean.”_ Lance’s taunting words echoed in Keith's mind. He couldn't stand them.

 _“He's right, you know?”_ A shadowy figure appeared in the corner of his eye. _“You're fucking pathetic. Can't even beat_ Lance _of all people. And you call yourself part of the Galra Empire?”_

Sendak always seemed to find a way back to him. His presence made Keith want to retch. He was everything Keith wasn't. He wasn't vulnerable to stupid human emotions. He had a _home_. He was laughing at him right there, right in Keith's face. “Shut up.” It was pathetic how soft his voice was. He hated it. He hated Sendak for making him feel so inferior. He hated himself for letting it get so far. “I'm not going back.”

“We,” voice high-pitched, desperate, “we still have to return the crown.”

 _“No wonder you're so weak. You still spend time with_ humans _.”_

His nails sunk into his skin to try and get rid of Sendak. “My sword is cracked,” he reasoned. “One more hit and it's over.”

“Keith!” Grabbing his hand, Pidge pulled him away from his own mind for a moment. “You have to return the crown!”

Peace never lasted long, though. Anxiety coursed through him at the thought of losing the only thing that made him _him_. He was able to release himself from her grip. His fists reached up to pound at his head. “Without my sword, I am nothing.”

“That's not true!”

“Without my sword, I am nothing!” His voice rang in the helmets they wore. Tears had begun to fall so he promptly turned away from her.

Then, as if she was _finally_ starting to understand, Pidge shoved Keith. “We're only here because _you_ stole the crown in the first place.”

It hurt hearing that from her. It made him want to say that maybe they met for a reason— _maybe, maybe, maybe_ —but he couldn't because he needed to be rid of her because— _because—_

_“Maybe the Galra found you for a reason. Maybe the stars brought you to them because they saw someone who was worthy of being saved.”_

“No.” He felt so small when he faced her and saw she looked just as desperate as he did. His conscience screamed at him to step down, to try again, to persevere because damn it all if he wouldn't die for this little human who understood him, who listened to him, who reassured him that he really did matter. His mind wanted to die because he knew he had to break her before she could break him. “We're here because the stars told you that you were special and you believed them.”

Moments passed in uncomfortable silence as he got ready to propel himself into the cosmos with his damaged sword. “I am Pidge, _Katie_ ,” she stressed through gritted teeth, “of the planet Earth. You will board my ship—”

He spared a glance at her. “Goodbye Katie.”

“Travel across space—”

“I'm not _killing_ myself—” _I'm not allowing you to get yourself killed_ “—so you can prove you're something you're not—!”

“And return the crown of Allura!” She held up the crown with a grip so tight it was like her life depended on it. “The stars chose _me_.”

“They chose wrong.” And, with that, he launched himself away from Pidge, ignoring her calls because he knew she was better off without him. She was better off never becoming him. So, if he couldn't stop his own self-destruction, he'd at least try to save her. Because she deserved to live, to be loved, to travel space with someone who could respond well to her. She was his tiny human friend who he loved, who he cared so deeply for it scared him because he only ever loved Lance but this was _different_. She was different. So he would save her like he'd always save humans. Running right back to them, running right back to her.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were wondering, Keith sees Pidge as the only person who really understands him. She's his only friend so that's why he talks about her so affectionately. Also when he compares her to Lance it's to show that his feelings for Lance were romantic while his feelings for Pidge were platonic. Just wanted to clear that up.


End file.
